Bifold door handle



P 0, 1968 1.. c. SMITH BIFOLD DOR HANDLE Filed April 12, 1966 IN VEN TR e/ana C. Sm//7 United States Patent O ABSTRAC'I OF THE DISCLOSUR The bifold door, commn in domestic and commercial architecture, needs a simple and easily grasped handle,

that will be so placed on the bifold doors as to take full advantage of the mechanical leverage acton present in the swing geometry of the bifold doors reducing the effort needed to operate the doors, that will keep the hands safely avvay from the pinching dangerpresent in the gap between the two adjacent hinged doors when opening or closing the doors, that will allow a safe and effective grasp by either hand in prtihg the bifolddoors, that will provide a simply manufactured handle that is inexpensive to manufacture, that will be easily installed, that will gain physical security because of the mountng position on the bifold doors. Bifold doors being constructed of a variety of materials besides the traditional wood, involving metal, plastics, laminates, as well as combinations of materials, involving a construction that uses the materials in their solid forms, 01 are hollow in shell or thin sheet forms,

have the need for fastening the handle to the bifold door to fully take advantage of the normal motions of the swing geometry of the doors. A problem today is keeping the fabrication and assembly simple and direct so that less skilled craftsmen can adequately cope with the assembly. In maintaining the physcal eifectiveness of the assembly of parts, it is necessary to use edges of surfaces, or slots, or grooves made in a surface, as mechanical positioning features, that will directly absorb some of the forces of normal operation, so that an insecure assembly wont result from loose or improperly secured fasteners. T0 compete in todays market, simplicity of construction, as well as eifectivenes of construction is needed. In the smaller living spaces and crowded quarters encountered today, using the space-saving advantage of bifold doors, the handle must be as effective as possible to fully comple ment the advantage accrued to the bifold door.

The eectiveness of the present invention is derived from the position of the handle in all the postions it will take, from the fully closed position of the door, to the most open position of the door. As a person stands before a complete setof bifold doors, each hand is directly in front of a handle. The first motion is a pulling to begin the opening of the doors, followed by a swinging outwardly as the door continues to open, turning to an outward push as the doors corne to rest in their most open position. As the doors swing, the handle is always turned toward the operator, providing a maximum of control at all times. Reversing the procedure closes the doors.

The simplicity of installing the invention, allows a maximum of mechanical advantage and physical security because the semicircular grooves in the doors receive the ends of the door handle completely and receive a direct transfer of many forces improessed upon the handle. The simplicity of the installation is achieved by drilling a hole through both doors at the same time, the edges of the closed doors being adjacent with near edges touching, ormng the eenterline for the drilled hole, so that open ing the doors reveals a semicircular groeve that has been cut into each half of the door at the same time. This groove receives the handle end for mounting.

This invention relates to door opening devices, an more particularly a bifold door handle.

3,400749 Patented Siept. 10, 1968 It is therefore the main purpose of this invention to provide a bifold door handle adapted to simplify the opening and closing of the bifold door.

Another object of this invention is to provide a bifold door-handle designed to admit and effect a grasp of a hand en said handle in a safe and most effective manner.

Another object of this invention is to provide a bifold door handle which is adapted to co11siderably reduce a possibilty of injury to human hndswhen opening 01 clos ing said bifold doors.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a bifold door handle adapted to be easily installed in all existing folding doors.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a bifold door handle which is inexpensive to manu-facture, is r1gidly constructed, and provides maximum utility to its user.

Other objects "and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed deseription taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein a satisfactory embodiment of the invention is shown. However, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the details disclosed but includes al] such variations and modfications as 'all within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is an illustration of this invention showing the invention in operative use.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary front elevatonal view of this invention.

FIGURE 3 is a top elevational view of this invention.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the lines 44 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along the lines 55 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 6 is a sectional plan view taken along the lines 6-6 of FIGURE 3.

According to this invention, a bifold door handle 10 is adapted to cooperate with opening 01 closing of the door 11 and 12. The nner edge or side 13 of the door panel 11 and the inner edge or side 14 of panel 12 are connected to each other by means of a top hinge 15", a center hinge 16 and a bottom hinge 17. A11 these hinges are firmly affixed to their respective edges or sides by means of a plurality of screws 18 (see FIGURE 2). Inner door edge or side 13 is provided with a laterallydisposed, semicrcular groeve 19 and another substantially dentical groove 21. It should be noted that one flap of hinge 16 is postioned between the above mentioned, laterally disposed grooves 19 and 20. The corresponding inrer door edge or side 14 is also provided with substantially identical, laterally disposed grooves 20 and 22 which are on the Same plane as the previously described grooves 19 and 21 of the edge or side 13.

Looking now at the drawing, one will see that end portions 20' and 22' of the Ushaped metallic handle 23 are snugly positioned within the semicircular grooves of the edge or side 14. Each end portion 20' and 22' is secured within its respective groove 20 and 22 by means of screws 24.

H will also be noted that handle 23 will be able to adequately withstand the normal pressures put upon it in opening and closing the bifold doors. Due to dual provi- Sion of the semicircular grooves within the inner edges or sides 13 and 14, the handle 23 can be mounted to either of panels by simple drilling of holes within the respective grooves and screwing of the handle in place by means of screws 24. F01 sake of taking advantage of the swing geometry of the bifold door, it is necessary that the handle 23 be mounted at its inner edges or sides thus giving the person who opens or closes said door an absolute control of the opening r closng sequence.

It will be apparent that the bifold door handle described above is smple to operate, simple to fabricate, smple to install on a door with a minimum of hand labor, and efiectve to use. The completed installation of the handle on a door provides a safe operation in keeping the fingers of the operator from the pinching potential, provides an efficient use of the operators physical energies in the directness with which it enables the door to be operated, taking full advantage of the swing geometry of the door, and its mode of mounting and use is adapted for desgns combinng comfort producing features, directness of mechanica] structure with the door and space-saving compactness features not practical in conventional bifold door handles.

As will be apparent to these familiar with the art, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristcs thereof. The embodirnents disclosed therefore are to be considered in all respects as illustrative rather than restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims.

What I now claim is:

1. A bifold door handle comprising, in combination, a U-shaped handle of circular cross section, a pair of outwardly extending ends provided with at least one hole within said each end, said handle cooperating with the inner edges of a bifold door which, in turn, includes a pair of substantially identical flat planar panels, said panels being connected to each other by a plurality of hinges at ther inner edges, each said inner edge of said panel provided with a pair of centrally positioned semicircular grooves, the spacing of the semicircular grooves corresponding to the spacing of the outwardly extending ends of the U-shaped handle, each groove having at least one hole therein, said grooves of one edge being concentric and on the same horizontal plane as said grooves of another adjoining edge, each end of said U-shaped handle being secured within one groeve of the same edge, said U- shaped handle extending suflciently in the outward direction for providng gripping means to exercise positive control over the bifold door, and when said door is in a closed position said grooves of said other edge snugly surround the extendng semicircular portions of said ends of said U- shaped handle.

2. The combnation according to claim 1, wheren each of said panels are rectangular and are of substantally identical size and shape said U-shaped handle being mounted on the hinged inner edge surface of the inboard door.

3. The combination according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of screws are used for securing said ends of said U-shaped handle within said grooves of said edges.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,050,680 1/1913 Naulty -199 X 1,318,433 10/ 1919 Berardinelli 160-206 1,630680 5/1927 Twedt et al 160-193 X 1,746,983 2/1930 Barr 160-118 2,014,591 9/ 1935 Sanders.

2,713,897 7/1955 Teaque et al 16-110 X 3,198242 8/1965 Crosswell 160190 DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Prmary Examn8r.

DENNIS L. TAYLR, Assz'stant Examner. 

